On 7 December 2016, the Parliamentary Committee of Finance (the Committee) published its report on the Act implementing the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (recast) (MiFID II) (Wet implementatie richtlijn markten voor financiële instrumenten 2014, the Legislative Proposal). The report sets out a significant number of questions with respect to the Legislative Proposal, which need to be addressed by the Dutch Government.
Questions raised by the Committee relate to, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- the governance structure of investment firms (beleggingsonderneming): the Committee raises questions in relation to the ‘sufficient knowledge and competence’-assessment that applies to the management of an investment firm and questions on maximizing the number of executive and non-executive directors of investment firms that are deemed ‘significant’;
- algorithmic trading: the Committee raises questions on how the proposed measures are intended to address the risks associated with algorithmic trading. In addition, the Committee questions whether the measures are not discouraging or restricting the use of algorithmic trading too much; and
- third-country investment firms: the Committee raises a number of questions in relation to investment firms with a registered office in a non-Member State, which intend to provide investment services or perform investment activities in the European Union, such as the requirement for third-country investment firms to establish a branch office in the Netherlands.
The Committee indicated that, provided the Government will adequately address the questions set out in its report, it considers the public discussion in respect of the Legislative Proposal sufficient.
View the Committees report (Dutch only), 7 December 2016.
